Chapter 3

       Chapter 3

            “Alright ladies, the trick to climbing with a hunter, while they’re still climbing as well, is to let them take most of your weight.”  Jess explained.  “You won’t be able to match their speed once they get going, not even close, so don’t try.  Their job is to get the sniper into position and then start the evac.  Let them do their job.  Use the handholds to pull yourself close to the wall and take a little of your weight, but don’t try to use your legs.  If you do, you’re likely to accidentally push off from the wall and rip you both down.  Once you reach your vantage, give a warning and unhook yourself.  After that it’s just you and the ferals.”

            The solidiers picked it up quickly.  They learned from each other’s mistakes and after the first few attempts they improved rapidly.  So did the hunters in their wall maneuvering.  They would be a dangerous force on the walls very soon.  No one managed to rescue every evacuee, but they were coming close by the end of the exercise.

Kai didn’t seem to have his mind on training though.  She caught him staring blankly at the wall twice and he let mistakes pass without comment.  Several times Jess found herself coaching the hunter pups instead of him.  She knew enough to help them at this stage, but they were going to need Kai soon.  Once they were done, he was going to tell her what was on his mind or she’d take him out back and shoot him.

He called the hunters over once they finished the last run and she joined them so he couldn’t slip away before she could corner him.

“You may now be expected to go on extended missions, up to a week sometimes,” he was saying.  “Therefore, you will have to deal with wearing those suits for long periods of time.  Every hunter suffers from claustrophobia, it comes with the territory, but if you loose control on a mission and rip your helmet off, every feral within a mile will smell you.”

“You might as well ring the dinner bell while you’re at it,” Jess piped up.  Kai glanced at her as though surprised she was there.  Had she actually snuck up on him?  He really was distracted.

“Exactly.  You could cause an incursion like the one that claimed that squad today.  So, for this whole week you are required to wear that suit 24/7.”  They stiffened, several opening their mouths to argue, but Kai silenced them with a cold look.  There was the Master Alpha Hunter she knew and feared: able to silence others with a look…like medusa.  “You will have half an hour to shower and use the head each day when you may remove the whole suit, and ten minutes to eat at mess during each meal when you may remove the helmet.  Your bio-scanner will alert us instantly if you exceed those times or remove the suit at any other moment.  If you do, you fail.  There will be no second chances in this.  This will likely be your toughest test, psychologically.  Dismissed”

Kai turned to her, looking expectant.  “What’s going on?”

“That’s what I want to know.  You totally missed half the mistakes I caught the hunters making, which means there were twice as many I couldn’t spot.  Spill it.”

“It’s…noth…”  He saw the look on her face and apparently reconsidered his response. “The footage bothered me and then the colonel started acting all strange, saying he wanted to see me when we finished with the recruits.  Its just nerves, that’s all.”

She gave him a beady look.  “OK, but if it’s going to affect your performance I need to know, so come find me afterward.”

He nodded and turned to leave, only to find Specialist Atkins waiting by the stairs.  He saluted as they approached.  “Command Sergeant Taylor, Master Alpha Hunter Kai.”

“What is it Specialist?  The Master Alpha Hunter is busy.”  Jess said

“Wait, a specialist?”  Kai glanced at her, surprised.

“Don’t ask me how he got them to let him join, but he’ll be handy to have around if he’s tough enough.”

“Oh, I’m tough enough, sir, ma’am.  That’s why I stopped you, actually.  My specialization I mean, not my toughness.  I think I know a way to improve the new climbing formation.”

“Unless being a laser engineer includes sniper training, I don’t see how it could help.”  Jess folded her arms as she regarded the specialist.

“No, Ma’am, but I thought of a device I could modify that might help.  It’s a sort of portable defense turret designed as an automated sentry for squads sent on overnight missions.  The turrets get their targets by establishing remote connections to our enviro-suits and…Well I carry it like a backpack, and it could be modified to fire from there on anything not wearing a suit that moves behind me.”

“Wouldn’t it be heavy, soldier?”  Kai asked.

“That’s why I work out so much, sir.  I’d rather deal with extra weight than need a device and not have it,” he replied.

“I think I see where you’re going with this.  If the sniper carried it, all the ferals would be behind him while the hunter was getting him into position,” Jess said, nodding.

“Exactly.  And I could program it so that it could be switched to sentry mode with the push of a button.”

“Then the sniper could set it down and activate it without needing special training.  It fires way faster than the soldiers and can mow down dozens of ferals in seconds,” Kai muttered, catching on.  He looked to Jess questioningly.  ‘It’s your call.  He’s your recruit,’ the look said.

“How soon can it be ready Specialist?”

“I could modify an existing turret in an hour or two.  It’s just a matter of programming.”

“Do it,” she said.

“Make it quick, Specialist, Colonel said he would send a rescue team soon.  If they haven’t left already, they can field test it for you.  If it works, this could save many lives.”  Kai said.

Atkins saluted, hand to forehead, and Jess said, “Dismissed.”

“I need to get to the colonel now.  He’s waiting.”  Kai Saluted, fist to chest and bowed, before leaving.

*****

I knew it was bad as soon as I got back to the colonels office.  Prime Hunter James, my father, was there.  Worse, so was Tamera, my little sister.  She was only fourteen, so she had two more years before it was time for her to come topside.  There was only one reason they would bring her here now.

“So, it was him after all.”  It felt like my knees were going to give out so I leaned on Colonel Anderson’s desk for support.  It was like I had gone suddenly deaf.  Father was speaking, but I couldn’t hear anything.  Both my hearing and balance were gone.  I was trapped and I couldn’t breathe.  I was suddenly keenly aware of the tons of earth and metal all around me; I was nearly fifty feet under ground and I could feel it.  I needed to be outside but the thought of putting the helmet on made my stomach heave.

I would not break down.  Not in front of Father.  Not in front of the Colonel.  Especially, not in front of my sister.  For Tammy, I wouldn’t.  Someone took my shoulders and pushed me into a chair.

He shook me gently.  “Take deep breathes, son.  You’re hyperventilating.”

It was the Colonel.  Father’s face was blank, but Tammy looked on the verge of tears.  I closed my eyes and took deep steadying breaths.  With my eyes closed, I could almost convince myself I was in the greenhouse on the top floor of the old Northwest Corner Building.  It had been gutted, like all the buildings, and turned into a garden where food-crops could be grown.  It was one of the few places I could go to feel the dirt under my feet, the warmth of the sun, and the smell of the natural world without fear of drawing ferals.  After several minutes I managed to get my breathing under control and opened my eyes.

“Sorry sir.  I’m OK now.

“It’s alright son.  Frankly, you held on remarkably long if you already suspected.  How did you know?”

“The footage, sir.  The sergeant called his name just before it switched to his perspective.  It was garbled, and the ferals were loud in the background, but I caught it.”

“I told you he would figure it out if you showed him the video,” Father said.

I rounded on him.  “How long have you known?  Why didn’t you tell us sooner?”

“Because I knew you would react like this and you needed to deal with the situation first, Hunter.”  Father’s voice was strained.  His son was dead and all he felt was irritation that his other children were hurting.

Colonel Anderson cleared his throat.  “Carter recorded a message for you.  I’ll leave you alone to watch it.”

He turned the monitor around again.  The video was paused exactly where it had been when I left earlier.  He pushed play and stepped out into the hall, closing the door softly behind him.

Carter looked around quickly, and seeing no more climbers on the wall he worked his way to the roof and the soldiers hiding there.  When he reached the roof, the soldiers spotted the bite and trained their rifles on him as one.

“It’s OK guys.  I don’t feel the effects yet.  Since the suit is breached, they can smell me so I’ll get out of here before they find you.  Just…”  He paused, gritting his teeth as he applied pressure to the wound.  “Just let me say goodbye to my family.”

He reached up and removed his helmet.  “There’s not much point in me wearing this anymore.”  He held it out in front, pointing the camera at his face.  He had the same blond hair and green eyes as Tammy and me.  He was much bulkier than either father or I—the things he could do when he Pushed his strength were nothing short of phenomenal—but it also limited his speed.  His eyes, usually a deep clear emerald, were already starting to take on an amber hue as the venom spread.  He didn’t have long.  He smiled his sad smile and opened his mouth.

“Hi Father.  Sorry, it looks like I won’t be coming home right away after all.  Don’t worry, I won’t make these guys put me down.  Since I have to go anyway, I figure I’ll take as many of those things with me as I can.”  My breath caught.  He had just escaped and now he planned on going back, doing as much damage as he could before they brought him down?  He never did lack for courage.  “I Know I was never as good as Kai, but I tried.  I tried.  I hope I made you proud.”  I glanced at Father.  His jaw was tight, but his eyes were steady.  He gave the barest hint, the whisper of a grudging nod.

“Well, I’m proud of you little bro,” I whispered.

“Kai, thanks for everything you taught me.  I know I was a…difficult student.  You were great.  Figure out what to do about these things for me.  They’ve learned a new trick.”

“Don’t worry Carter, I got it covered.  Next time they try that, they’re in for a surprise.”   I looked at Father, daring him to comment on my answering a video.  “No one else will have to go through what you guys did.”

“Take care of Tammy.  You’re her only big bro now.  She’s gonna need you.”  Tammy drew her knees up into her chair and hugged her legs, choking back tears.

“Sis, listen to Kai.  I know you think I was a real badass, but I got nothin’ on him and if you take him seriously, he’ll make you into one too.  Heck, you always could Push so much better than me.  You’ll be passing me up in no time.  Maybe someday you’ll even be able to take Kai down a notch or two.”

Tammy sniffled and then laughed.  “Maybe?  Count on it big brother.  I know how much it would mean to you.”  I looked at her and she gave me a watery smile out of the corner of her eye without turning away from the monitor.

“Well guys, I think it’s time.  Wish me luck.”

He set his helmet down, propping it so the feral hoard below was visible.  It seemed to go on forever.  His leg appeared at the edge of the picture and a second later he was plummeting toward the wolves below.  The image zoomed in, keeping him in the center of the screen.  He landed on one of the beast’s shoulders and used his hunter’s claws to simultaneously tear out its throat and snap its neck.  The creature collapse and Carter tumbled to the ground amid the ferals.  He reappeared a second later, sending one of the brutes flying with a crushing back fist to the side of its head.

The scene held a sort of dread fascination.  I’ve read that people used to stare at accidents on the road as they passed, unable to tear their eyes away.  We don’t have that sort of thing anymore.  For us, it’s the aftermath of an attack.  Ferals and enviro-suits sprawled out on the pavement while the containment teams prepare the bodies.  You just can’t help staring as you pass.

This was like that only worse.  The one we couldn’t drag our eyes from was the brother we would never see again.  We feared that final moment even though we knew it was inevitable.

“Tammy, you don’t want to see this.”  I reached for her arm, trying to give us both an excuse to look away.

“Don’t!”  She jerked her hand way, folding her arms.

I stood, moved to her side and sat on the arm of her chair.  Gently, I took her hand, pulling her folded arms apart and hooked it into my own.  I entwined my fingers with hers and squeezed softly.  She squeezed back, but her eyes never left the screen.  I took a deep breath and focused on the images once more.

He fought on, frenziedly, for quite some time, but the camera suddenly zoomed out to reveal a second mass of ferals plowing into their kin.  The battle instantly devolved as ferals began mauling each other.

“A second incursion?”  I asked, stunned.  Two incursion groups would usually link up and become one massive pack, but on rare occasion they turned on each other instead.  This sort of action had a tendency to attract ferals from miles around and if those joined one side or the other, the resultant pack could reach into the thousands or even tens of thousands.  Some of the worst incursions to attack the University had been the result of frenzies like this. 

Carter fought on, disappearing from time to time as one of the ferals managed to pull him down momentarily.  Tammy began crying silently every time he disappeared only to calm a little when he reappeared.  Eventually, a pouncer tackled him and he vanished again into the mass of werewolves.  He never reappeared.  With each moment that he didn’t resurface Tammy’s cries became stronger until, as hope finally went, she broke down entirely.  Several minutes later I realized tears were trickling down my own cheeks and wiped them away.

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

            I stood at attention in front of Colonel Anderson’s desk, waiting for him to finish reading the report on the screen in front of him.  My eyes began to wander around the room, noting the changes since my last visit.  Not much had changed.  He’d had the walls scrubbed since I was last here; the mold smell was much weaker—the Colonel probably couldn’t smell it at all—and there was a strong disinfectant smell instead.  Being in the tunnels beneath the university, his office had a tendency toward humidity and mold.  Besides that, his jacket was hanging in its usual place on the wall, his weapon sat on a rack behind him and his furniture had not changed—desk, his chair and two others, and two file cabinets.  Aside from the usual computer monitor, keyboard and mouse, he now had a small framed photo of his wife and son on his desk.  It held the smell and texture of an old-school photograph, not a color printout of a digital picture.  Those were rare; for a ‘non-essential purpose’, it must have cost him a month’s salary for that one print.

            When I glanced back toward the Colonel, he was watching me over steepled fingers.  I snapped my eyes forward, reddening slightly at being caught slacking my stance, but he only smiled.  “So, what’s new in my office then?”

            I reddened again.  He knew me too well if he could even tell what I was thinking with only my eyes moving.  “The picture sir.  Your family is looking well.  Is it recent?”

            “Last month.”

            There was something in his voice…almost is if…I looked at it again, Pushing slightly to see it clearer.  “That was last year sir; your coat in the picture has a small tear on the cuff.  You had it fixed within a week of it occurring.”

            “Excellent, sharp as ever.  How long ago did the crew scrub down my office then?”

            I inhaled deeply, Pushing my sense of smell.  The disinfectant smell was strong, as though it had been done no more than a few hours ago, but the mold smell would have lingered still if that were the case.  He must have had them add extra detergent just for this.  I smiled inwardly; he liked to try to stump me, but rarely could anymore.  “Twelve hours ago sir; some time last night.”

            “Ha!  I thought I had you this time.  Well done Master Alpha Hunter, at ease.”

            I relaxed a little, spreading my feet and putting my hands behind my back rather than rigid at my sides.  “We have got to shorten that title, it’s a mouth full.  It had more syllables than the rest of the sentence combined.”  This was an old joke between us,

            “Well, when Prime James sees sense we’ll talk.”

            “Father?  See sense?  I won’t hold my breath, and I can hold it for a really long time, sir.”

            “Well, to business.  Brief me on our newest pups.”

            “You called for me before I had a chance to meet the new soldiers—I can have a report on them on your desk this evening if you require—but the hunters look promising.  If they are as good as their Master Hunters say, we have some truly exceptional candidates this time.  Their senses are very keen, even for a hunter.  If that’s any indication, they’ll be able to Push like few others.  Other than that, only time will tell.”

            “Good, we’re going to need them.  We lost a squad today.  They were exceptional too.  We’re receiving footage transmitted from the incident but it is so chaotic it’s hard to piece together.  One thing is clear though, the ferals have evolved again.  The men ran into climbers.”

            “Climbers?  Feral climbers?”  I couldn’t wrap my mind around it.  It was like learning that dogs had started climbing trees like cats.

            “Just watch.” He turned his monitor around.

            On the screen was a frozen image of the wasteland.  The street was crumbling and strewn with rubble.  Weeds poked out of the cracks and grew everywhere.  Several soldiers were frozen in the act of running toward a building ahead.  It too was crumbling and ruined, with clinging plants spidering along its walls and out the empty window frames.  Colonel Anderson pushed a button and the soldiers kicked into motion.

            “Go, Go, Go!  Up, Up.  They’ll be here in ten seconds.  Climbing formation.”

            We were watching from the sergeant’s helmet-cam.  In spite of the urgency, he gave the orders in hand signals and whispers over the laser-radio—he must have feared hibernating ferals were near as well.  He singled out three hunters to protect the men still on the ground and the fourth to take the rope up.  The soldiers took up positions against the wall, rifles pointed back the way they came, while the three hunters crouched in front, waiting.  The fourth hunter fitted climbing spikes to his gloves and darted up the side of the building.  The sergeant watched him leaping from one gaping window to another and scrambling up intact portions with the spikes.

            “Heads up.” It was the whispered voice of the man beside the sergeant.  He nodded back the way they had come and the sergeant turned to look.  A hoard or ferals was charging out of an alley across the street, bunching up momentarily in confusion while the ones in front paused to search for the humans.

            They would be beautiful if they weren’t so horrifying.  They looked like wolves with thick grey-brown fur reminiscent of a timber wolf’s.  Except, these wolves had once been human and walked on two legs, eight or ten feet tall, and dropped to all fours only when they charged.  They had hands with opposable thumbs, but seemed to have forgotten their use, relying instead on their large claws to grip, slash and rip their prey.  The most horrify thing, though, was their bite.  It was worse than rabies, causing nearly instant madness.  Hunters could hold it off for a time, but even we succumbed in the end.  Always.

            “A werewolf incursion, even a minor one, on the new moon?  Unheard of.”  I watched for a second, thinking.  “They couldn’t win, but they might survive if they got up the wall quickly enough,” I whispered.

            “Except, there were climbers too.”  Colonel Anderson shook his head.

            “No wonder we lost them.”

            The ferals in front spotted the humans and charged in mass.  “Open fire.”  The sergeant’s voice was calm.  The soldiers began picking off the ferals with their laser rifles, burning holes in their skulls.  Anywhere else wouldn’t even slow them down.

            “Sgt, heads up.”  The voice whispered through the com and the image swung up as a rope uncoiled from above toward the camera.  The sergeant caught it and signaled three men to start climbing while he joined the men firing into the ferals.

            “This is where it starts to go south.  The sergeant was watching the enemy rather than the rope, so he didn’t see the climbers,” Colonel Anderson said.

            Just before the ferals reached the human lines the hunters darted forward and engaged, the hunter on the building above dropping down beside his brothers at the same time.  They were all excellent Wolf Pack members, both hunters and soldiers, and handled their weapons with expert precision, the soldiers reverting to gunning down any beasts that made it past the hunters.  The lines were holding, for now, though the hunters were slowly being forced back.  The soldiers were slowly filtering up the rope, but if the ferals managed to force the hunters back to the soldier’s line the formation would break.  The ferals would be able to attack the gunners, who would not be fast or strong enough to hold them off for long at close range.

            It never came to that.  There was a shout from above and the camera swung up, revealing a half dozen ferals clumsily jumping from window to window, very like the hunter had before only far less gracefully.  The ferals would be no match for hunters on the wall, but the soldiers on the rope had only their laser pistols.  The lasers weren’t strong enough to drop the ferals in time and soon they had converged on the men.  “Hunter Carter, get back up there.”  The voice was muffled and almost unintelligible, but the hunter heard.

            So did I, though I din’t think Colonel Anderson could.  I stiffened at the name, it couldn’t be.  Maybe I had heard wrong; the colonel wouldn’t hide something like that from me.

            The hunter disengaged and hurtled back up the wall, if anything, faster than before, Pushing even harder.  The soldiers on the ground hunkered down holding as long as they could.   The Sergeant sent a few more up the rope but more ferals jumped onto the walls after them and dragged the humans into the hoard.

            The view switched to a camera darting rapidly up and down the walls, ripping ferals away from the humans on the ropes.  The Hunter’s view.  One of the ferals clamped its jaws onto his arm.

            I clenched my teeth but refused to look away.  A bite was death, even to a hunter.  Even if you survived you had to be euthanized afterward.

            There was a spurt of crimson and the hunter shouted in defiance as he slashed its throat with his hunter’s claw.  The beast let go and fell.  The camera momentarily followed its decent and the chaos below was momentarily visible, a writhing hoard of wolves.  The rest of the squad was just gone.

            Three hunters, four with that bite, and the better part of fifteen soldiers lost.  Only four soldiers had made it up the wall.

            “A retrieval unit will be sent after survivors, but their chances aren’t good.  Suggestions?  How do we deal with this latest development?”

            I stared for a few more seconds at the paused video, still showing the mass of ferals where the squad had been moments before.  “The climbers were slow and clumsy, no match for hunters on the wall, but still a great threat to soldiers limited to pistols while clinging to the rope.  It seems to me that a vertical escape is still a viable option.  However, the climbing formation will need to be modified.”

            He nodded.  “Agreed.”

            “We cannot spare enough hunters to handle the climbers, so it will have to be the soldiers.  However, the current formation does not lend well to this.  From their current position in the formation, the soldiers will not have an angle on the climbers until they are several feet off the ground.

            “What do you suggest?”

            “Snipers.  Take a few soldiers, depending on how many ferals are encountered, and send them up immediately with the hunter climbing.  Once they are well out of feral leaping range they can find sniping positions and deal with any feral climbers that appear.  Once they are in position, they will be able to defend themselves adequately if engaged, unlike the soldiers caught on the rope.  They will also have a better angle on the ferals below once they reach the hunters. If there are no climbers to deal with, the snipers would be able to continue firing into the crowd, over the hunters, with no danger of us taking friendly fire.”

            “The hunter climbing will need to be even more adept in order to help the snipers in their ascent at the same time.”  Colonel Anderson pointed out.

            “True, it will require further training for both snipers and hunters, but I believe this can be done.”

            “Very well.  Start training with the pups, use the climbing wall at the Fitness Center.  If they are as good as they seem to be, they can handle it.  And if they can’t, they’re not what you’re looking for anyway.”

            I saluted, fist over heart and bowed.  “Yes sir.  Permission to use the footage?”

            “Granted.  I’ll have the section you just viewed transferred to your account.  Dismissed.”  He turned the monitor back toward himself and just as I was reaching for the doorknob, he added, “Oh yes, I need you to return as soon as you finish with the pups, son.  There’s more to the footage I need to show you.  But that can wait till later.”

            Son?  Yah, ‘cause that’s not at all ominous.  As I made my way back to the gym I tried to focus on the assignment instead of…other things.  As soon as I returned to the gym, I called the pups and Command Sergeant Taylor to the conference room.

            Taylor had the men doing running knee highs down the halls to the conference room and I had a momentary pang of guilt for leaving them alone with here for so long.  I suppose I should be grateful they could still walk at this point.

            The conference room was a small wood paneled nook overlooking a second, larger set of basketball courts.  It had decent chairs, though after all the years the upholstery was history of course, but, more importantly, it had a working big-screen and an attached computer.  I pulled up my account on the computer and readied the footage.

            “We lost a squad today.   Many soldiers and hunters won’t be coming home.  It was an incursion.  We lost them because the ferals have evolved again.  They have a new trick and it is the Wolf Pack’s job to develop new tactics to counter them.  So, today you get to be the first to train for feral climbers.”  I hit play on the video.

            When the hoard appeared, awed murmuring broke out among the recruits.  “Silence, dog meat!  You’ve all seen action already.  This is no different, there’re just more of them.”  Taylor shouted.  The muttering fell away into tense silence.

            As the footage reached its conclusion, I turned once more to the pups.  “A moment of silence for our comrades, our brothers and sisters.”  We lowered our heads.  I closed my eyes.  After a moment, I looked back up.  The others were waiting, Taylor looking curious.  “We are altering the climbing formation to include snipers.  Follow me back to the courts.  We’ll be using the climbing wall.”

            I explained the new formation as we walked.  “Everyone is to suit up in their enviro-suits with full climbing harness.  Each hunter pup will take a turn as the climbing hunter, and each soldier will take a turn as a sniper.  There are five times as many soldiers as hunters, so the hunter pups will get to practice as our climber five times.  The extra Push practice will be good for them.  The hunter pups not taking their turn as our climber will simulate feral climbers—that’s four feral climbers each turn.

            Soldier pups not taking their turn as the sniper will be evacuees—that’s fifteen evacuees.  Snipers will be equipped with a laser rifle set to flash only.  When a feral climber is hit, head shots only obviously, your suit will seize up and your climbing harness will lower you to the ground.  Evacuees will have their proximity detectors active; if a feral climber gets within one meter of you, the feral kills you and you will be removed the same way. The exercise is over when all evacuees either reach the running track above or are dead.  Command Sergeant Taylor and I will demonstrate first

            When you manage to save everyone, you’ll get a chance with me as a feral climber.  Ferals appear quite clumsy on the wall, for now anyway, nothing like what our hunters can manage.  When you can take us down before we reach your evacuees, ferals will be no problem.  Once you have this drill down, we will practice with multiple snipers and continuous feral climbers—the hunter pup’s enviro-suits will unlock five seconds after they are hit and they will be coming back up.  Everyone suit-up and form-up by the climbing wall.  You have two minutes.  Move, move, move!”

            The enviro-suit was a self contained environmental light armor very like a wetsuit with a six hour air supply and an air purifier and scrubber to refill the tank.  The helmet was completely sound proof so com chatter wouldn’t wake nearby ferals, but it also meant that communication was only possible through the laser-radio or sign language.  It also sported an onboard computer with a wireless connection suit-to-suit to track squad mates, a biometric scanner to keep track of the wearer’s physical condition, a homing beacon, and a helmet cam.  They also had GPS trackers, but with the satellites down, those didn’t work anymore.

            The climbing wall was set up with several nooks large enough for Taylor to stage from, so, once the pups had all formed up, I looked to her, eyebrows razed.

            “Middle one?”  I asked.

            “Middle one.”  She nodded.

            I fed the rope through the loop on my harness and handed it to her, then looked to the hunter pups.  “Ten second head start, that’s all the squad we lost had, then come for us or the evacuees.”

            I began climbing, pulling up, and immediately felt the rope catch below me as I took most of Taylor’s weight.  Being sure to keep the pace steady so she wouldn’t loose her footing and pull me off, I surged upward, Pushing my strength slightly to handle both our weight, and my agility to keep us even and steady.  A slight burning tingle spread to my arms and legs at the Push.

            After three seconds she shouted, “Clear” and her weight vanished.  Two seconds later I heard the scramble of the Hunter pups coming up at us.  They started early, but Taylor was in position; they didn’t stand a chance.  I lunged, Pushing a little more and leaped ten feet, snagged a hand hold and leapt again clearing the last few of the thirty feet to the top.  Glancing down, two of the hunter pups were already on the ground, but the other three were being more careful.

            I looked toward my evacuees.  “Climb! Three at a time.  The Ferals still on the ground would overwhelm your team if everyone climbed at once.  Move.”  Once three of the soldier pups were on the rope, I Pushed and brought them up hand over hand, while they did the same from below.  Then I threw the rope back and pulled up the next set.  Taylor was having a hard time sniping the pups since the three had taken cover behind an outcropping on the wall, but that also kept them away from the evacuee.  They became frantic, however, upon seeing the first group reach the top without a single casualty and darted out of cover after the second group.  Three quick shots and they were all down.

            “Don’t relax dog meat evacuees!”  Taylor shouted.  “You still have three dozen ferals down there to contend with.  Anyone not up that rope in two minutes is getting raped by an enormous, fat, rat-faced feral!”

            Oh, the image.  I shook my head trying not to laugh.

Chapter 1

            You would think if the world was coming to an end they would do away with a few things, like school for example, yet there I sat getting ready for gym class.  Granted, some things did change.  The old books in the library here practically made it sound like there was a school on every street corner a hundred years ago.  But now?  This was the only school topside in all of New York City.  Plus, the only kids who came here were soldiers or hunters and we had to share the school with techies researching…I don’t even know what.  It wasn't even a real high school; it was an old university, Columbia.  We were just here to protect the scientists.  There were never enough soldiers so someone came up with the brilliant idea to send us topside to finish our last two years here among the ferals.  Four years of service was mandatory, so after we graduated we had to go to some post out in the wasteland for another two years.  Everyone else, what was left anyway, stayed down in the tunnels.

            Classes were different now too.  Gym was the most important class of the day and it took up more than half our time.  It was where we learned skills like unarmed survival, marksmanship, and weapon field maintenance.  They didn't bother hiring PE teachers either; they just promoted some of the upperclassman to Sergeant or Senior Hunter and made us do it.  I was a junior and the best of the hunters, so that meant I was the teacher now too.  And yet I still had to run the mile.

            I finished tying my shoes and stood, stomping my feet to settle them better.  As I left the locker room I glanced out across the gym.  Whoever designed it must have been out of their mind.  The running track was on the fourth floor and circled the locker rooms and basketball courts, only the courts were on the second floor so for half its length the track turned into a balcony running along a two story drop.  On the other side of the track was a three story fitness area with weight rooms and cardio machines.  Down in the third floor weight room, the soldier pups were already in the middle of their work out, Command Sergeant Taylor shouting encouraging insults—her version of positive reinforcement.

            My next set of hunter pups was lined up in front of the stretching mats, sharp in their workout uniforms.  The soldiers got to wear your basic camo shorts and t-shirt, but not us hunters.  Our uniform was made from an all-black, light and filmy fabric gathered at the wrist and ankle.  We looked somewhere between a ninja and a pirate; it was embarrassing at first, but I got used to it.

            One of the Pups spotted me and snapped to attention, feet together and fist over his heart.  “Atten-tion!”  His tone was firm, but his voice was only slightly louder than a normal talking volume.  To us, he might as well have shouted.  Instantly the rest mimicked him and he barked, “Salute.”  They bowed, forty-five degrees, head up and eyes straight.  As I passed, I eyed each one in turn, holding their gaze until they glanced down.

            “Five of you and not one can look me in the eye for more than ten seconds.  They’re supposed to send me only the best.  If this is all you have for me, why are you here?”  I kept my voice down, barely a whisper, forcing them to focus.  “I’m Master Alpha Hunter Kai.”  I moved back to the middle of the group and stopped in front of the boy there.  “You, sound off.”

            “Hunter David, Sir.”  His voice was loud with nerves and they all jumped, David included.

            “I did not say relax.  Hold your stance!”  The pups snapped back to stillness, resuming their bow with fist over heart.  I waited a few seconds, to catch any fidgeting, before turning back to David.  “Why are you here Hunter David?”

            “I want to be stronger, to be the best, Sir.”  This time he managed to control his voice.

            I narrowed my eyes and he swallowed as I moved on.  I stopped at the front of the line, beside the one who first spotted me.  “Sound off.”

            “Hunter James, Sir.  I want to become a Senior Hunter, Sir.”

            I folded my arms and stared into his face.  “I only said sound off Hunter James.”  He blinked and looked away.

            “Let’s get this right.”  I moved to the other end.  “Sound off.”

            “Hunter Tarra, Sir.”  Her teeth clicked shut.

            “Why are you here, Hunter Tarra?”

            “Ferals killed my friend, Sir.”

            “That’s an event, not a reason.”  Could this one actually have it right?

            “I’m here to kill mutts.”  Fire burned in her eyes and on her tongue as she spat her answer, and added a belated “Sir.”

            I shook my head as I turned away.  So close, yet completely off.  “There’s only one answer that I’ll accept, but you have to figure it out for yourself.  If I tell you, it won’t mean anything to you, and you’ll get yourself and everyone around you killed.  Figure out why we’re really up here, or you may as well just go back where you came from.” 

            I looked back into Tarra’s eyes.  “If you’re just here to kill mutts, you can do that in a regular squad.  In fact, after your time with the Pack you’ll be given a command, and as a leader you’ll see less and less direct action.  If revenge is all you want you’ll get it better where you were, so leave now.”  I stared into her face for a moment while the fire died back down, replaced by a thoughtful expression.

            Stepping away from Tarra, I stopped again beside James at the head of the line.  “Yes, you have to serve a rotation in the Wolf Pack to be promoted to Senior Hunter, but I will not allow you to take a command if you’re just going to get everyone in it killed from your lack of resolve.  If you cannot find a better reason than that, leave now.”

            Finally, I stopped in the middle again, looking at David.  “Strength without a purpose is like a gun without a target: pointless and dangerous.”

            I moved to the middle of the lineup again, addressing them all.  “You have six weeks to prepare, then the senior squad of the Pack will rotate back into normal service.  There will be four spots open.  That means one of you is guaranteed to fail, but it does not mean that the others are going to make it.  The only way to get a spot in this squad is to pull together as a team, among yourselves and with the soldiers.”  I pointed across the basketball courts to the weight room where the soldiers were lined up doing burpees.  “Until now you’ve worked mostly independently, scouting for your former squads.  But we’re called the Wolf Pack for a reason.  If you cannot form a pack with each other, knowing that the hunter you help may take your spot, you’ll never make it to the squad.  In the Pack, we help our Pack-mates, knowing that it may mean the one we help makes it back instead of us.”

            “As of this moment, you are Wolf Pack Recruits, assigned to the Wolf Pack Pup Squad.”  I pointed to the running track circling the locker-rooms and basketball courts “The soldiers have the track after us,” and then, for the first time, I shouted.  “So run!”  The pups flinched back from the sudden noise and lurched into an unsteady gallop.

            I ran after them, Pushing just a little and was quickly running at the head of the group.  “Lesson number one for Wolf Pack hunters: every animal has its limits; you must learn to Push yours.  The average human can only sprint full out for about three hundred yards, give or take.  If they work hard they can push that boundary back some but no matter where it is, when they hit their limit, they hit it.  For them, running into their limit is like running into a concrete wall.  It won’t matter how fast they are, it’ll stop them.  But we’re different.  Our limits are not concrete, they’re more like elastic.  We can Push them, stretch them with willpower.  Our limits won’t flatten us when we hit them, nor do they tear like a rubber band.  But be careful.  They will fling us back if we push to far, rather like a sling-shot.”  I glanced over my shoulder to gauge their reactions.  They all looked suitably confused.

            “This makes so much more sense when you feel it, don’t worry.  You have two tasks as you train for the Pack.  First: build yourself up to push those limits back through intense exercise, just like any other animal.  The higher your limit, the farther you will be able to stretch when you Push.  Second: learn how far you can stretch yourself.”

            “So, we are going to sprint, full tilt, no-holds-barred, puke your guts out when it’s over, sprint half a mile.”  Someone behind me gasped and I looked back, but their faces were all blank.  “That’s just under nine hundred yards, three times farther than I just told you humans can sprint.  One day, the survival of your whole squad will hinge on your ability to make it back in time to warn them, no matter how far away you are.  Half a mile is only the beginning.”  I paused for a moment, waiting for the end of the lap.  “We’re coming up on our seventh lap.  A mile on this track is ten laps, so when we finish that tenth lap, everyone open it up and fly for another five.  Oh, and if I lap you, you get a thousand push-ups—each time I pass you.  Imagine I’m a feral.  If I pass you, you’re dead.  If I pass you twice, your team is dead.  If I pass you three times, your squad is dead.  If I pass you four times…”  I paused to look back, staring hard.  “If I lap you four times, you’re done.  Go back to your old squad.”

            Just as we approached the start of the ninth lap, the Colonel’s aid came into view, holding out a message.  I grabbed it as I passed and held it open as I ran.  ‘Report to Colonel Anderson ASAP.’  I pocketed the message.

            “Well, the good news is you’re off the hook if I pass you the fourth time.  The bad news is I can’t take my time and go easy on you so you’re all going to owe me three thousand push-ups.”  Just then we finished our tenth lap.  “Open it up!  Show me what you got!”

            I shot away across the track, reaching my limit in a heartbeat and Pushing hard.  My muscles burned as they were dragged past their normal limits and the burn built until it felt like fire was pumping through my veins.  Blood boiling, strength coursed into my limbs and I sped forward so fast the wind was like a second limiting wall and I Pushed against it too.  This was freedom.  A moment later I came up behind the group, now spread out in their sprint.  “There’s a feral on your tail Pup!  Pick it up!”

*****

            “Dog meat, form up!”  Command Sergeant Jessica Taylor shouted when she saw Kai talking to the hunter pups.   “They say they've sent me the best and that you've seen some action.”  Jess snorted in derision, “I used to trust the sergeants’ recommendations but now that I see you ladies I think they've lost their minds.  If you are the best we must be hurting for soldiers a lot more than I realized.  Pathetic.  Form up here, in front of the window, facing out.  We don’t have the track until the hunters are through, so we’re doing burpees instead.  And so help me, if you stop before me I won’t just send you back to your squad, I’ll rip your balls off and feed them to you before you go.  Now RUN!”

            “Sgt, why do you only throw insults at us guys?  Calling us ‘ladies’ and…such?  Half the soldiers in here are girls.”

            It was the recruit closest to Jess.  She looked him up and down, sneering.  He had the heavy shoulders and arms, and thick neck of a body builder.  “You’re a guy?  Don’t make me laugh.  Some advice though: don’t go calling any of those soldiers ‘girls’ where they can hear.  If they get their hands on you, you’ll be wishing they would just rip your balls off and be done with it.  And then they’ll stop being pleasant.”

            She held the exercise for several minutes before giving them a rest.  “So, if you've all seen action, who here has actually seen a hunter in a fight?”

            The soldier that had spoken to her snorted before anyone else could respond.  “They’re worthless is what they are.  Look at them.  Scrawny and weak.  Only that lead hunter up there has any kind of muscle, and even he has nothing on the weakest soldier in this room.  Plus, when things get hot, they’re either gone or they just stand there.”

            “What’s your name, soldier?”

            “Specialist Atkins, Ma’am.”

            That distracted her for a moment.  Specialists were rare and valuable.  “Really, you’re a specialist?  What do you do?”

            “I’m an engineer, laser technology.  Everything from our laser side-arms and assault rifles to the automated defense turrets and the laser grid surrounding the university, I do it all.  I can also handle field repairs for most standard issue gear if they aren't too damaged. But repairs tend to be noisy so we avoid it unless the item in question is essential to the mission.”

            “Well, what are you doing here?  Specialists don’t usually rotate to the wasteland.”

            “Why?  Don’t think a defense turret would be useful if you have to hunker down for a night out there?  Maybe some laser or flash mines to cover your six?  How about a laser grid to make an invisible bottleneck?  You give me the means to transport it and I can rig it.”

            “OK sure, that would definitely improve our odds out there.  Specialists are just too valuable to risk though.”

            “Well, maybe if we stop thinking like that we might actually make some headway.”

            “Fair enough.  Speaking of rare resources, hunters are specialists in their own right, though their specialty is tracking and killing ferals, and there is only one of them to every five of us.  The reason they seem to miss all the action is, until they rotate through the Wolf Pack, they are used entirely as scouts and backup melee guards.  You’ll never see their skills while they’re out scouting the wasteland and they won’t need to fight otherwise unless their fire team is about to be overrun.  That only happens if there is an incursion, or if the soldiers in the fire team screw up.  I know you haven’t seen an incursion; you don’t have that look in your eyes.  So, since you’re already an expert on the hunters, when did you and the rest of your fire team screw up?”

            “Never Ma’am.”  He looked like he wished he was standing anywhere else.

            “So, you've never even had a chance to see them and yet, in your infinite experience, you’re good enough to judge their skill even so?”

            He shrugged.  “No Ma’am.”

            “Good.  Now, as for your jab at the strength of the Master Alpha Hunter up there, if you challenged him to an arm wrestle he’d crush you without breaking a sweat.  To begin with, their senses are a great deal stronger than ours.  They shy at loud noises, but it makes them excellent scouts.  That’s why they never use guns.  Most of our weapons are lasers, they’re silent and lasers conserve ammo, but during an incursion we switch to silver rounds for quicker kills.  Even when a Hunter manages to deal with the noise, they have no talent for firearms; when their blood is up they can’t keep still enough to fire with any kind of accuracy.  Plus, to a man, they are all claustrophobic; I think it has to do with the heightened senses too, but I don’t know for sure.  So, no guns, twitchy, can’t handle enclosed spaces for long—maybe you’re right Specialist.  Maybe they are worthless.  Has anyone actually seen one fight?”  One of the soldiers stepped forward, nodding and Jess said, “What did you see?”  He had that slightly wild, twitchy look in his eyes that meant he’d truly seen some action.  She had a pretty good idea what was coming.

            “It…it was our platoon’s Master Hunter.  There was a minor incursion, ferals everywhere.”  The soldier shook his head, his eyes distant.  “My squad was cut off and the Master Hunter broke through to help us rejoin the platoon.  My gun overheated and my partner went down.  It was two ferals, pouncers.  They were on him before he could react.  Then the Master Hunter was there, between me and them.  He moved faster than I thought possible and he fought with some sort of silver clawed glove.  He killed both ferals in the time it took me to vent my weapon.”

            Jess nodded.  “He was using the hunter’s claw.  It’s a hand-to-hand weapon that Master Alpha Hunter Kai will be teaching your hunters to use.”  Kai and his group ran onto the track and she said, “You’re about to get your first glimpse of what they’re really capable of.  Now, get back to work!  Crunches.  Keep them up as long as they run.”

            At first the hunters just jogged around the track, nothing special, and she saw Specialist Atkins eyeing them, looking unimpressed.  But he was smart enough not to say anything at least.

            “Just wait for it.  Kai is only warming them up right now.”  Just a few laps before the hunters were going to start their sprint, the Colonel’s aid entered the gym carrying a note.  Jess whistled.  “Sucks to be them right now, but you guys are in luck.  We were going to see what the pups were made of, but now you’re going to get to see what your Master Alpha Hunter is capable of.

            When the hunters reached the start of their eleventh lap they all exploded out into an intense sprint, but none faster than Kai.  He shot around the track and was out of view in an instant.

            Specialist Atkins looked stunned.  “How…?”

            “Just watch.  On the fifth lap, half a mile…”  Kai had already passed them three times in the time it took for Jess to respond.  The other hunters were moving at a relatively human speed, but they just kept going impossibly long.  Kai continued to accelerate with each lap until, on the fifth, he launched himself at a reinforced backboard at the start of the curve, slamming feet first into it and springing off.  He ricocheted off two others along the curve like an impossibly large pin-ball and shot back out of sight down the track.  There were three heavy thuds from the other end of the track an instant later as he wall-jumped there as well.  Then he appeared at the far end of the track, jogging to the colonel’s aid and falling in beside him.

            There was a stunned silence in the weight room as the pups finished their laps.  “The Master Alpha Hunter gets going so fast that he can no longer corner sharp enough to maintain his speed on this track so he has to wall-jump like that to get around the curves, but it takes him about half a mile to get up to speed.”

            Specialist Atkins was the first to find his voice and he choked out, “Holy shit!  He moves like a damn feral.”

            Jess rounded on him.  “Don’t ever let him hear you say that.  And watch your mouth numb nuts.  That sort of language was fine in the lower ranks but now you’re expected to show some restraint.  It’s going to cost you an extra half mile on the track today, but if I hear it again I’ll rip your heart out and eat it.  Do you understand?”

            “Yes Ma’am.”  His voice was a startled squeak.

            Jess gave Atkins a shove and shouted, “Get out there dog meat.  All of you.  One mile.  You’re all feral crap waiting to happen.  Prove to me you deserve a spot on this squad.”

            As the soldiers ran up the stairs, the hunters began filtering onto the basketball courts below and she went out on the balcony to encourage them.  “Hop to it Pups, three thousand push-ups.  You thought I didn’t know?  Think again!  If those limp wrists up there finish before you, you get another three thousand.”

            Several of the pups cringed as she shouted, instinctively covering their ears.  “Oh, am I too loud?  Poor puppies…deal with it!”  She shouted even louder.  “How do you expect to handle gunshots if you can’t even put up with my voice?  If you don’t stop flinching I’m going to pump heavy metal music through your enviro-suit’s helmets all week.  Now get to it, three thousand push-ups and you’d better Push, ‘cause the dog meat upstairs are already half-way done.”